Doug Jones's (dougj) Blog

I told and agent that I wanted the property listed on the MLS today and he was upset because he wanted to wait a few more days and blurted out. "Does one day make a difference"?Yes it does. One Day Makes a Difference. Little Things make a Difference. And, all details make a difference.I have obse...

I have lived and worked in Silicon Valley since 1963. In 1963 San Jose was a sleepy town with a couple of shopping centers, a freeway  that actually had traffic signals, and Fruit Packing Plants and many Fruit stands along the roadways. Most students walked to school cutting thru orchards.Housing...

Note: This is not a legal article about Living Trusts - only my experiences as a Realtor about what happens when selling a property in Trust.Presently we have three listings where the property is in a Trust. If you have never sold a property in a Trust here are some of the things to be aware of.M...

Most of my life has been spent working as a loan officer so I know 'the responsibility" requirements better as a loan officer than as a Realtor. 'The Responsibility" is a set of regulations set on me by me. When a person calls me to inquire about a loan there is an issue they are facing. Sometime...

Credit Bureaus sell information of people applying for mortgage loans to banks and other lenders - without the customers consent or knowledge.The article below was put out yesterday by the National Association of Mortgage Brokers. This has been a "secret" in the mortgage industry. So many times w...

What does it take to become a 'great' Realtor?  To be an expert ? Let me mention first that I am not a 'great' Realtor - yet.  I never wanted to be a Realtor. Most of my working years have been as a lender and I did not grow up wanting to be a lender either. I only  wanted to make a living, enjoy...

The letter was not friendly. It said, "Pay us $5,000 and we won't sue you."The letter was from a law firm in Los Angeles and the attorney represented an artist who artwork we used in a blog. The letter explained that we had used the artwork with out the permission of the artist.We got the artwork...

Over the weekend I met with a Contractor to go over items for a home that needed preparation for re-sale. The owner met us at the home and we spent over an hour reviewing things to be repaired or upgraded. After a while the owner had to leave and asked me to close up. We continued going over diff...

This morning I am hating loan rules. It is perhaps once every 10 years that I use the word 'hate' and maybe there is a better word but driving in this morning it hit me that I really do 'hate' so many loan rules.Before the financial meltdown I would tell so many applicants to throw out common sen...

This article was posted a year ago under a different name. The reason I am re-posting is because one of my agents asked what to do to get re-started and this can be an answer. But there is another reason I remember from  the book the author asked "How do you know when you have done enough"? (enou...